Chim Says Hello!

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Ashe & Chim

Ashe & Chim

Member Since 2016
Hi everyone!

I'm Ashe, and my cat Chim was just diagnosed with diabetes last week (2/25). He's turning 12 this year, so I've had him almost 10 years now. He's a gentle, sociable guy who loves hanging out with everyone and making new friends, or curling up on the couch to watch TV with us. A total "guy's guy," he will follow my boyfriend around the house pretty much anywhere in hopes of a head scratch. :)

So far this whole process has been kind of overwhelming, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone here for putting so much information into one place. This is the first site I found when I got off the phone with the vet and looked up "feline diabetes," and finding so much information and so much encouragement was a HUGE help.

Even just reading some of the other threads has been really helpful, and so thanks again to everyone for the information on diet, insulin, syringes, etc. We're hoping to start insulin for Chim by the end of the week. The vet also recommended putting him on the prescription diet, which we haven't totally decided on yet - one of the things I plan to talk to her about is whether there are OTC alternatives to the RX food. I've seen several people mention that canned food is generally a better option, so I'm hoping we're able to go that route.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi, and thanks again for this awesome resource!

-Ashe
 
Hi Ashe and extra sweet Chim - what a handsome guy he is! I'm glad the information here has already helped. To answer your food question, many of us feed Fancy Feast classics and Friskies pates. As long as it doesn't have gravy - gravy is high in carbs. The 'RX' food has nothing in it making it 'prescription' food other than it gives the vets something to see that can't be bought elsewhere...

Poke around more, when you have questions, just post in the 'Feline Health' forum.

Again, welcome....
 
Welcome Ashe & Chim. Yes he is a handsome lad. There is a lot of info here so keep looking through.

Canned food is best for the sugar kitties as they are called here. If Chim is a dry food addict there are just a couple of options however the prescription dry should be avoided.

Since you don't know what the treatment will be yet, please consider home testing even if your vet says you don't need to. I learned the hard way how extremely important it is. Pet or human meter (less costly in the long run) is fine. You can even pick one up now and start conditioning Chim to the procedure. And it will save you money so you won't need the costly curves at the vet. Most of us if not all of us do and we can help you through it.

Please continue to read on and ask any questions.
 
Thanks for the welcome! :)

I appreciate the information about the canned food. Fortunately, Chim is a big fan of that stuff already, so switching him to it permanently is going to seem like more of a reward to him than anything, I'm sure.

I did get a OneTouch and the lancets and test strips from Walmart, and my vet did recommend home testing if I was comfortable with the process. I'm going to keep reading and probably poke around the other forums, and we've got another appointment early next week to set up a treatment plan and get Chim started on his insulin.

Thank you guys again!!
 
Yay for a vet that encourages home testing!

You may find a little resistance from them in regard to feeding low carb canned rather than the so called prescription foods. The reason for this is generally that the prescription food is all that the vet knows and the 'education' from the makers of said food is all the vet will have received on the topic. I bought my vet around by bringing in what I wanted to feed and comparing with the label of the prescription food and asking him to tell me which had less species inappropriate ingredients ;)

No need to wait until the insulin starts before you try home testing. Sometimes the ears take a little while of poking before they learn to bleed properly so it would be good to start trying now so you can be more confident when the insulin begins.
 
Welcome @Ashe & Chim! It sounds like you're doing all the right first steps! You definitely have a handsome mankitty there. I've found a lot of support here throughout the last year when Moby was diagnosed, you're in the right place for sure. Keep us updated on your program and ear-scritchies to your kitty!
 
Thanks for the suggestion about "educating" the vet about the different food options, Vyktors Mum. I'll definitely give that a try - I think that's going to be the main sticking point where the treatment plan is concerned. She was pretty adamant that the prescription diet was the way to go.

I've been able to test Chim a couple of times, but it's much harder to do by myself. So far, the best method has been to have my boyfriend, Charles, hold him in his lap and warm his ear with the sock filled with rice, and then I do the sticking and testing part. The times I've tried it myself, I couldn't get a blood bead large enough for the meter to do anything but say "sample size too small - please retest." Hopefully it'll get a bit easier (for me and for Chim) with more practice!
 
Hello and welcome. Love the pic. You do sound well on your way to helping Chim and it does get easier.
 
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